


You Belong With Me

by crocodilepatronus



Category: One Piece
Genre: M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-18
Updated: 2015-07-18
Packaged: 2018-04-10 00:59:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4371113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crocodilepatronus/pseuds/crocodilepatronus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Crocodile wears short shorts, Vergo wears t-shirts, Crocodile's cheer captain and Vergo's on the bleachers (no this isn't a highschool AU)</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Belong With Me

Vergo considered himself to be a man who was in control of his emotions. Perhaps it had something to do with living a double life. It had never been hard for him to separate himself from others- to shut down whatever empathy he had to do what needed to be done. Maybe it was that which had imbedded itself into his personality, giving him his deadpan demeanor. Or maybe he’d always been a bit on the serious side.

But there were still things that even he would feel no matter how hard he tried to push them down.

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been in love with Doflamingo. Probably since they were children. Certainly Doflamingo had been the first person he had _loved_ \- even before he’d been **_in_** _love_ with him. Vergo had never known parental love, and had shared few friendships. His life had changed completely upon meeting Doflamingo.

Doflamingo was the only person that Vergo needed in his life. Everyone else was expendable. Doflamingo alone was what gave Vergo his purpose, his drive.  Even if it meant being apart from him for months at a time, pretending to be a person he wasn’t for most of his life…. All of that he would do without hesitation or complaint if it meant being useful to Doflamingo.

But sometimes, he did wish… He told himself that his desires were not selfish. They were in keeping with his loyalty. It wasn’t that he wanted to keep Doflamingo all to himself. He knew he couldn’t. He knew him well enough to know he couldn’t be contained or held down that easily. As much as he’d sometimes yearned to when he was younger and more fragile, a force like Doflamingo could not be possessed or kept.

Even so, Vergo thought his feelings were that if Doflamingo would let him, he could be of great use. As he always had been, in any capacity that Doflamingo had needed. Be it his right hand man, or an undercover marine, an assassin, a liason, even a confidant. Vergo was confident in his abilities that for Doflamingo he could also be just as competent a lover and romantic partner.

They’d grown up together, shared eachother’s joys and miseries. Always they had been inseperable back then- they were bonded in a way that no blood bond had ever linked either of them. Vergo wanted to know, why couldn’t it have always stayed like that? It seemed to him that they belonged _together_.

However, it seemed Doflamingo had other ideas. Ones that didn’t involve Vergo.

“Fufuufu, don’t be like that, _darling_. You know that if you visit you’ll want to stay the _night_.”

Vergo hated having to overhear these conversations. The only time Doflamingo’s voice ever grated on his nerves was when he was talking to that particular den den mushi. The one with the heavy lidded eyes and the scar across the center of its face.

Vergo had been standing in the door to his office patiently for at least a full minute, hands folded behind his back.

Doflamingo saw him of course (though it was hard to tell with his eyes obstructed by his shades as usual), sitting as he was leaned back in his chair and feather coat draped over his shoulders. He gestured with his hand that Vergo should come in but continued to speak into his phone.

“No, no. I insist you stay at my palace.” he was saying. Vergo couldn’t hear the response of the man on the other end but what he said was delivered in a deadpan, slightly irritated voice, and made Doflamingo laugh uproariously.

Vergo sat stiffly on the couch and stared at the floor. He waited for the conversation Doflamingo was having to turn hostile as it inevitably did. It took record time, only a few exchanges of word before the muffled voice on the other end seemed to be shouting through the transmitter and even Doflamingo was rubbing his temples and his laughter had a bitter edge to it.

“Ah.” Doflamingo finally said, standing up. “He hung up on me.”

He chuckled as he walked across the room to fall into the chair across from Vergo, putting his feet up on the coffee table between them.

“He sure is unreasonable, that guy…” he muttered to himself, but not without a note of unmistakeable fondness.

“Joker…” Vergo started before biting his tongue. Surely relationship advice was not one of the capacities that Vergo was being employed for.

“Hm…?” the warlord cocked his head to one side, smile still in place on his face as usual. Shades still in place too. His features were always so obscured. He’d been like that even as a child- an enigma even to Vergo who’d known him all his life. Who knew him better than anyone.

“…. I have news to report from G5.” he finished.

\- - -

 Crocodile arrived the next morning and Vergo walked with Doflamingo to meet him at the dock out of morbid curiosity.

Vergo had seen the man many times over the years, though whether they’d ever been formally introduced he could not remember. The relationship between Crocodile and Doflamingo had always been something of a mystery to Vergo, which was an annoyance. There had been a time in his life when he and Doflamingo had had no secrets between eachother… at least, he had never held any secrets from Doffy. As they got older he’d come to realize that the same was probably not true for Doflamingo. If Doflamingo had been his first love, then that realization had been his first heartbreak.

He wouldn’t deny that it hurt when Doflamingo saw Crocodile and his face split into a grin and he walked to him with open arms and words of affection. It stung something inside Vergo that usually he kept numbed. And somehow it hurt more to see the way Crocodile brushed off the gesture, glaring at Doflamingo and muttering complaints.

Vergo grit his teeth, squeezing his hands tightly together where they lay behind his back as he stood a discreet distance behind Doflamingo. Ultimately, the other man _annoyed_ him. He wasn’t used to seeing others disrespect Doflamingo without any repercussions. And Vergo was often the one who got to dole those repercussions out. To be forced to hold back for some arrogant, scowling, greasy haired, glorified common criminal….

He watched as Doflamingo tried to put a hand on Crocodile’s shoulder and the other shrugged it off, walking past him.

As he did his gaze caught Vergo’s. They held eachother’s eyes with a hostility that was only respectable between two pirates of different crews (and ultimately Vergo was a **_pirate_** , even if he would don his marine uniform once more after leaving Dressrosa).

“Crocodile.” Vergo acknowledged in a clipped tone.

“Hmph.” was the only thing Crocodile gave as a response, beginning to walk past him, leaving a stench of cigar smoke in the air where he passed.

“How nice to see you thriving after that stint in prison.” Vergo couldn’t stop himself from adding.

The two men were standing shoulder to shoulder and Vergo stared staight ahead, nearly pretending he hadn’t spoken at all. He was good at keeping a straight face. And Crocodile didn’t scare him.

The former warlord exhaled what might’ve been a chuckle. And then pushed past him, walking down along the dock without a response.

Doflamingo tailed after him quickly, also not acknowledging Vergo as he nearly skipped past him.

Yes, there were many things Vergo could steel himself off from feeling. But that would never not hurt.

He sighed, adjusting his sunglasses on his face. When he looked up he realized he wasn’t yet alone on the dock. Someone else had been left behind.

“Ah. The bounty hunter from West Blue, is that right?” Vergo asked without a hint of friendliness or interest in his voice.

The other man responded by keeping his level, serious, gaze focused on him and blinking once, arms still crossed defensively across his chest. He was Crocodile’s associate. A remnant of his failed Baroque Works operation.

“Will you becoming ashore as well or are you planning to sit there patiently like a dog until your master comes back?” Vergo asked dryly.

Crocodile’s associate scowled, not that the difference from his previous expression was so dramatic…

“It might be better. Your boss gives me a headache.”

 _The feeling is mutual_ , Vergo thought sourly. He supposed he should feel sympathy, in fact.

“They won’t want either of us intruding anyway.” Vergo said.

He saw the twitch in the other man’s face that he tried to cover up.

“I can show you around the island myself.” Vergo said, surprising himself with his affability. Even the other man looked a tad surprised. “That is, if you don’t think that I would give you a headache as well.”

The man smirked and took a step forward. “I don’t think it will be a problem.”

Vergo smiled back, a rare occurrence, and for once genuine.

“Good.”

**Author's Note:**

> if this fic gets nice feedback I might write a follow up fic of Vergo and Daz's "date" but I'm not sure if anyone will read this hehe.... regardless i'm planning on posting a few old one piece fics on here from when I was writing fics for this fandom a lot and maybe posting some new ones


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